Genghis Khan Meets Islam

by Ibrahim Lone

16 Nov, 2008

Genghis
(Chingis/Jenghis) Khan brings out a variety of emotions amongst
people even today. One can love him or hate him but there is no way
that you can ignore him. Muslims accuse him of being an enemy of
Islam; western scholars present him as a bigoted dictator. In fact,
the views of Muslim historians are so biased in against him that one
could even doubt personal vendetta in the writings of Muslim. The
history books of Islamic nations present Genghis Khan as a
blood-thirsty Kafir who hated Islam. This is as far from the
truth as it can be. In their zeal to label Genghis Khan as an enemy
of Islam Muslim historians tend to hide many facts.

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It is by means of this article
that I shall try and bring out a few of these facts before
condemning Genghis khan Hence it is for this purpose that we see the
events which eventually lead to the Mongol invasion into the Muslim
territories. While Genghis Khan was a military genius is still a
sort of cult figure amongst his people, he never misguided people
into believing that he was a Prophet of God. Hence we can easily see
the actions of this man in the context of the society that he was
born and brought up into. Let us begin with a brief chronology of
events that took place in the life of Genghis Khan.

Chronology of life and death of Genghis Khan

c. 1167

Birth of Temujin future Genghis/Chingis Khan

1206

The Khuriltai (assembly) give the title of "Chingis Khan"

1209-10

Campaign against the Xi Xia.

1211, 1213, 1215

Campaigns against the Jin Empire.

1214

Mongols lay siege to the Jin capital of Zhongdu (modern
day Beijing), which falls in 1215. Areas north of the Huang He
becomes under Mongol control. Jin capital is moved south to
Kai-feng.

1218

Conquest of the Kara Kitai. Mongols raid Korea.

1220

Mongol caravan and ambassadors are murdered by the
Khwarazmians. War against Khwarazm (Persia) begins. Capture of
Bokhara and Samarkand.

1221

Subedei begins expedition around the Caspian Sea and into
Russia. Jalal ad-Din rises in Persia and challenges the
Mongols. Jalal ad-Din defeated at the battle of Indus. War
with the Kwarazmian Empire concludes.

1226

Final campaign against the Xia Xia.

1227

Genghis Khan dies. War with the Xi Xia concludes.

Early years

Born to the noble family of Yesugei and Ho'elun, Genghis Khan was
first called Temuchin. During the period from late 12th to early
13th century, Temudjin, consolidated all the Mongol tribes and
placed under his leadership a centralized empire which brought the
Mongols to a new stage of development. In 1206, he had a clan
meeting held on the bank of the Onon river, at which he was
proclaimed the Great Khan, with the reign title of Genghis Khan. He
was later known as Emperor Tai Zu of the Yuan Dynasty.

When Temujin was nine years old, his father was poisoned by
Tartar chiefs. Since he was much too young to rule, his clansmen
deserted him. Temujin and his family (7 people total) moved to the
most desolate areas of the steppes, eating roots and rodents for
living. He had many great adventures, ranging from chasing horse
thieves to being captured by enemies. When Temujin was 16, the
Merkid Tribe attacked his family and captured his wife. With an army
of five men, Temujin could not retaliate on his own, so he turned to
one of his father's old friends, Toghrul Khan of the Kereyid Tribe,
who in turn, also enlisted a Mongol coalition leader, Jamugha.

Together they defeated the Merkids and Temujin recovered his
wife. Temujin quickly took advantage of his powerful allies,
particularly Jamugha, who was also happened to be a Mongol and a
childhood friend of his, and became a notable figure on the steppes.
Temujin and Jamugha took control over most of the Mongol Clans, but
that was not enough for Temujin.

According to the Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty, one day
while Temujin and Jamugha were riding at the front of the Mongols,
Temujin decided to "keep going" while Jamugha stopped to pitch tent.
Temujin broke up with Jamugha and the Mongols were split into two
groups. Hostilities soon broke out between the two parties. In a
clash over a minor event, Temujin was defeated and was forced into
exile. However, Temujin returned ten years later and reestablished
his position. From there, he embarked on a conquest of the Mongolia
that lasted several years. Unfortunately, the details are too great
to be perused in this article. In short, by 1204 Temujin had
subjugated all that opposed him. He defeated the Tartars, the
Kereyids tribe under Toghrul Khan (who Eventually betrayed him), the
Naimans the Merkids, and Jamugha's Mongol clans.

The Empire by 1204

In 1206, Temujin held a great Khuriltai (assembly) on the banks
of the Onon River. There, he took the title Genghis Khan. The name
Genghis Khan is commonly referred to as Genghis Khan. However,
"Genghis" is actually a corrupted variation, and thus for accuracy
reason, he will be referred to as "Genghis " Khan. During the
Khuriltai of 1206, Genghis Khan decreed the structure and laws for
his new Empire. To ensure stability and cooperation between people
of the tribes that he united, Genghis Khan installed a military
superstructure to integrate all the peoples of his Empire. The
population was divided into units responsible for maintaining a
certain amount of warriors ready at any given time, thus overriding
previous tribal organizations. Furthermore, he decreed many specific
laws and created an efficient administrative hierarchy. Genghis Khan
created the most advanced government of any steppe nation up to that
time. His horde would soon prove to be the most disciplined, the
most powerful and the most feared army to ride from the steppes.

The War in Northern China

Genghis Khan became emperor of "all who lived in felt tents," but
his dreams was to conquer the world. First, he led his men in a
series of campaigns against the Xi Xia Empire in western China. In
1209, the Xi Xia capital was threatened, but the Mongols were
satisfied with tribute after their camp was unexpectedly flooded. It
must be understood that the Mongols were still more interested in
and tribute plunder rather than to capture cities. However, as the
Empires in China discontinued to pay tribute once the Mongols
withdraw, the raids soon turned into conquest. In 1211, Genghis Khan
took 65,000 men and marched against the Jin Empire of Northern
China. With the help of the Ongguts, a people who lived on the Jin's
northern border, Chingis Khan easily passed through the defenses and
marched into Jin territory. He continued a trail of plunder until he
met a large force of around 150,000 men, which he defeated. Chingis
split his army and launched a multiple pronged attack on the Jin. He
and his generals dealt several blows against the Jin, including
capturing the strategic Juyong pass. Unfortunately, Genghis was
wounded during a siege and withdrew to Mongolia. Subsequently, Jin
forces began to recapture territories loss to the Mongols.

In 1213, the Mongols returned after learning that the Jin had
refortified their locations. Genghis divided his army into three
parts, one under command by himself and the other two, under his
sons. The three Mongol armies devastated the Jin Empire, and by
1214, most of the area north of the Huang He (Yellow river) was in
Mongol hands. One exception was the city of Chungdu, capital of the
Jin Empire. Like other nomadic armies, Genghis Khan's Mongol hordes
were entirely cavalry, and the weakness of cavalry forces was the
lack of ability to capture fortifications. Genghis realized this
weakness and was quick to capture Chinese siege engineers to learn
siege tactics. Despite so, Chungdu withstood the Mongols' assaults.
Chingis's men became short on supplies and were ravaged by plague,
but he tenaciously continued the siege. Accounts describe that every
tenth man was sacrificed to be fed to the others. But the siege went
on for so long that Genghis had to personally abandon the campaign.
He then placed his general Mukali in charge. The Mongols finally
entered the city in 1215, but by then, the Jin capital had already
been moved south to Kai-feng.

The First Move West - the Conquest of the Kwarazm-Shah Empire

Genghis lost interest in the war in China and instead, turned his
attention towards the west. He got interested in trading especially
with the countries due west from Mongolia. Thus he began sending
trade caravans to those countries. However this did not last long.
As the once Free Silk Route, extending from Korea going through
Tibet and Kashmir right into Central Asia and Arabia, was after the
advent of Islam taken over by Warlords. These very the same people
who once used to be peaceful Buddhists. However now with their
conversion to Islam they began to follow the footsteps of their
Prophet and were thus encouraged to loot caravans which passed
through their lands. All said the real issue was with the huge
Kwarazmian Empire in Persia. Hostilities broke out when the Kwarazm
Shah (a Muslim king) attacked a Mongol caravan and humiliated
Chingis's ambassadors by burning their beards. Since Genghis had
sent the ambassadors for the purpose of making peace, he was
outraged. Chingis prepared for the largest operation he had yet
performed and assembled a force that totaled around 90-110,000 men.
The total numerical strength of the Kwarazm shah was two to three
times greater, but Chingis' army was better disciplined, and most of
all, better led.

In 1219, Chingis's sons Chaghadai and Ogedei set out to attack
the city of Utar located east of the Aral Sea. Meanwhile, Chingis'
general, Chepe, marched southwestward to protect the left flank
during the operation. The main attack, however, was led by Chingis
Khan himself, who along with general Subedei, marched through the
Kizil Kum desert and outflanked the Kwarazmiam forces. The plan was
that the Kizil Kum desert was considered impractical to cross, which
made it a great opportunity to surprise the enemy. Chingis and his
army disappeared into the desert and suddenly, out of nowhere, he
appeared at the city of Bokhara. The city garrison was stunned, and
was quickly defeated. Next, Chingis marched towards Samarkand,
capital of the Kwarazmian Empire. The magnificent city was heavily
fortified and had a garrison of 110,000 men, which vastly
outnumbered Chingis' besieging army. The city was expected to be
able to hold out for months, but on March 19, 1220 its walls were
breached in just ten days. After the fall of Samarkand, the Mongols
overran much of the Empire. Devastation was so great that the
Kwarazmian Empire itself was nearly wiped away from history. The
conquest of the Kwarazm also created another remarkable event. After
his defeat, the Kwarazm Shah fled west and Subedei followed in
pursue with a force of 20,000 men. The Kwarazm Shah died, however,
but Subedei went further. He brought his army north and defeated a
heavily outnumbering Russian and Cuman army at the Khalka River. He
went further and attacked the Volga Bulgars before returning back.
As said by the famed history Gibbons, Subedei's expedition was one
of the most daring expeditions in history, unlikely to be repeated
ever again.

During the entire campaign, the Kwarazm Shah failed to assemble
an army to fight the Mongols on the battlefield. The Kwarazm
strategy relied on its extensive city garrisons that outnumbered the
besieging Mongol armies. This of course, failed in every way. The
only well organized resistance against the Mongols came from Jalal
ad-Din (another muslim general), who after the fall of Samarkand,
organized a resistance force in modern day Afghanistan. At Parwan,
he defeated a Mongol force led by one of Chingis' adopted son,
making it the only Mongol defeat in the entire campaign. Genghis
chases after Jalal ad-Din and destroyed his army at the Indus River.
The defeat of Jalal ad-Din meant the consolidation of rule of
Transoxania. However, the southern parts of the Kwarazmian Empire
were left unconquered and later turned into a collection of
Independent states.

At the age approaching sixty, Chingis' health was at a decline.
He sought the legendary Daoist monk Changchun for the elixir to
Immortality. His wish did not come true, as Changchun had no magical
elixir, but Genghis praised his wisdom and the two became good
friends. Following the meeting with the Daoist monk, Genghis
returned to the administration side of his objectives. Unlike Attila
the Hun and Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan realized the
importance of a smooth succession after his death. Before he
completed his conquest of the Kwarazmian Empire, he had already
carefully chosen his son Ogedei to be his successor. After Genghis
returned to Mongolia to finish establish the administration
structure of his empire, all the matters were in good order, except
for the Tanguts. The Tangut Xi Xia Empire had long been defeated by
the Mongols, but became more of a tributary rather than being
annexed. However, the Tanguts had stopped complying with terms while
Chingis was away. In 1226, Genghis Khan led his army against Xi Xia
and captured its capital.

The Death of Chingis Khan

The campaign against the Xi Xia was his last campaign. Shortly
afterward in August 1227, Chingis Khan died at the age of 60. The
reason remains unsolved, with theories ranging from internal
injuries after a hunting accident, to malaria, to prophecies of the
Tanguts.

The Final Word

Genghis Khan was undoubtedly a conqueror of yore, a scourge of
humanity, like many others including Muhammad. However, his legacy
died within four generations of him. He never preached to people of
his prophethood, nor did he ever say that God had given in triumphs
in battles because the hand of God was behind his back. Unlike
Muhammad, who was a coward, this man led his forces from the front.
He gave respect to his generals and his army. So the next time you
sit back and accuse this man of being a religious bigot do give a
minute more and think about it.

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Bibliography

1. Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the World - by
Leo de Hartog - 244 pages
2. Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy - by Paul Ratchnevsky